The daily influx of Burundian refugees into Rwanda is heading to a record 3,000, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (Midimar) reported yesterday.

Frederic Ntawukuriryayo, the Midimar communications officer told Sunday Times that 2,683 people were received on Friday at reception centres in Bugesera, Nyanza and Rusizi.

As they arrived, 391 of their countrymen and women who arrived earlier in the week were moved from Nyanza to a settlement camp in Kirehe District. Another 1, 226 also assembled in Bugesera, Gisagara and Nyaruguru districts, waiting to be transported to transit centres.

By the time we went to press, those who fled their country on Saturday were still being counted, but Midimar said about 1,500 had already crossed the border into Rwanda as of 3.00pm. “The daily average is rapidly increasing; they kept coming the whole night,” said Ntawukuriryayo.

The surging numbers come after Kigali, on Friday granted prima facie refugee status, to those already in the county as per the Rwandan law relating to refugees and the 1951 Convention on refugees. The convention is the key international legal document that defines the rights of refugees and the legal obligations of states.

The number of Burundian asylum seekers in Rwanda reached 13, 729 on Friday. They include 2,168 men, 3,062 women and 7,273 children.

Ntawukuriryayo said that given the situation, the government and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, are increasing capacity to evacuate big numbers from the transit centres to a settlement camp in Mahama, Kirehe District where the first 600 refugees were transferred on Wednesday.

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